


Day 22 - Leviathan

by Shardinian



Series: Shardinian (Mishka)'s OBEYMEmber! [23]
Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:01:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27698009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shardinian/pseuds/Shardinian
Series: Shardinian (Mishka)'s OBEYMEmber! [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993873
Comments: 12
Kudos: 31





	Day 22 - Leviathan

The monitor was forty-two inches across, but still so crowded that there was barely any space left for actual gameplay. There were health bars and mana bars and buff windows (with the timer add-on, of course), and group chats and raid chats and guild chats and mini-maps and three separate hot-bars; there were real-time dps trackers and refresh counters and colour-coded enemy radars and aggro meters and, and, and, and, and.

Every last one of them, absolutely essential.

Levi's fingers flew across the keyboard, typing seventy words a minute in five separate conversations; his cursor darted back and forth across the screen so quickly that it was barely more than a beige-ish blur, while his unblinking eyes darted even faster than that.

The voice chat was filling up with dozens of scratchy voices, from all across the realm; all best players in the highest ranked guild on the server, chatting and laughing, cracking inside jokes and showing off their latest relic drops. There was an air of giddy excitement in the chat room tonight, that very particular sort of excitement that children feel for brightly-wrapped birthday gifts and gamers feel for long-anticipated expansion packs.

The new content had been released less than forty-eight hours ago, and the highest ranked guild on the server had already conquered ninety-six percent of it. There was just one boss left.

The final boss.

They were the highest-ranked guild on the server; they had a reputation to uphold.

They had to be first.

They _would be_ first.

They always were.

The last stragglers joined the boisterous voice chat.

69, 70.

71.

And 72.

That was everyone.

They greeted their friends, and talked, and laughed…

Then one name in the chat turned green, and everyone stopped talking at once. The raid leader – the guild leader – the most important person in a room full of the most important people – had turned on his mic.

And everyone listened.

“Alright guys,” said Levi, “this is how it'll go down. Phase one’ll be the ground phase. Groups one, two, three, get your tanks in front and rotate aggro; clerics, watch for that horror dot and cleanse it asap; group four tank, you're in the east-wing cave to kite the whelps…”

The explanation lasted almost twenty minutes. Nobody interrupted. When someone had a question, they would turn on their mic, and wait to be acknowledged.

When the guild leader spoke, everybody listened.

“…at five percent, he'll proc Noxious Spawn one last time, so hold your long-cooldown AoE cleanse until then. Once it's down, pile on the dots and hammer that dps for all you're worth. And if I catch anyone, and I mean ANYONE, standing in the fire, I'll boot you asses out of the guild myself,” Levi chuckled. “Alright guys, any questions?”

A half-dozen, and Levi had expert answers at the ready for every last one of them.

“Looks like we're good to go, then! We got this! Everyone… Port in!”

HenryTheThird, the highest ranked human paladin in the game and guild leader of the highest ranked guild on the server, clicked the green portal first.

He always went in first.

Levi's computer was the fastest in the Devildom, but always took a few seconds to load a new dungeon.

The screen went black.

Loading… 15%

For those few seconds, there was no final boss. No highest ranked guild on the server. No HenryTheThird, highest ranked paladin in the game.

Loading… 30%

Just a black screen.

Levi was sitting so close that he could see himself reflected in it.

It wasn't a mirror. It didn't reflect the walls of his room, or his fish tanks, or even the edges of his gaming chair. They were all too far away.

Loading… 55%

Levi stared into his own worthless eyes.

Stared, and waited.

Waited to be someone good.

Waited to be someone important.

Waited to be someone special.

Loading… 70%

People always said he had such a sweet smile, but he couldn't see it.

They always said his shy blushes were adorable, but he couldn't see it.

They always said his eyes lit up when he was happy, but he couldn’t see it.

Because his reflection wasn't smiling, or blushing, or happy.

It was just two staring, worthless eyes, watching him, watching them, waiting to be something better than they were.

Loading… 95%

Levi stared at himself… and wiped away a single, broken tear.

This was all he would ever be.

Just a worthless demon, waiting to be someone better.

Loading… 100%

The screen came alive with bright colours and excited chatter and the promise of being the undisputed best of the best at something.

At _anything._

HenryTheThird turned on his mic.

And when the guild leader spoke, everybody listened.

“Alright guys… let's do this! Group one, you're up! Once they've drawn enough aggro, group two, be ready…”

Because in this place, nobody needed to know the truth.

Nobody needed to know that he was worthless.

…Nobody needed to know.


End file.
